American Apparel to Return Under New Ownership

American Apparel shall rise again. Gildan Activewear Inc., who purchased the brand earlier this year when it went out of business due to declining sales and scandals with original founder Dov Charney, explained their plans to relaunch AA online by the end of 2017.

"At the end of the day we will do very well with this brand," Glenn Chamandy, chief executive of Gildan, told Business of Fashion. "This will hopefully be one of the best acquisitions the company has ever made, in terms of return on investment, so we're very excited about it."

Gildan is already selling American Apparel basics to wholesalers, but hopes to expand their product for direct-to-consumer purchase.

"We're going to continue to focus on our distribution," he said. "We're going to focus on our direct to consumer. We're going to expand internationally. We think that this could be quite big as we go forward."

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Charney has also launched his version of a revivial of the iconic brand with a developing company, called "Los Angeles Apparel," but Chamandy doesn't seem too concerned about his competitor.

"Good luck to him," he said. "But at the end of the day we're well positioned. We have a significant investment and capital able to support our brand."